April 2014

Wednesday, 30 April 2014

Like Metal Retardation, the Pagan Metal DVD begins with a disclaimer that if you don't appreciate this film, then you are "too gay". What are you twelve? …

Here is a guide of some Minneapolis (and Saint Paul) live shows and events taking place next week: May 4 - May 10.

SUNDAY, MAY 4
SKYWAY THEATERPaganfest V

Paganfest V is here in North America. If you're into folk/pagan metal, this is the perfect tour for you. The genre is actually popular enough to warrant a straight to DVD documentary (which spotlight some bands in this very specific genre).

Chelsea Wolfe, in all her glory and doom, performed at The Cedar Cultural Center on Monday September 22. She is touring in support of her very recently released album Pain is Beauty, her fourth official release.…

TUESDAY, MAY 6
ROY WILKINS AUDITORIUMQueens Of The Stone Age w/ Chelsea Wolfe

W♥M's Emily has been a massive Queens of the Stone Age for a long time, thanks to their collaboration with Mark Lanegan. I don't know if Lanegan is currently on tour with the California band, but they are popular enough to book the Roy Wilkins Auditorium, which is much, much larger than Minneapolis' First Avenue.

Queens are currently on tour for their sixth studio album ...Like Clockwork, out now on Matador Records.

Opening up for Queens will be Chelsea Wolfe, she's currently enjoying touring with Queens of the Stone Age and, later on, with Eels. Wolfe's latest album is Pain is Beauty, out now on Sargent House.

Once upon a time the Cedar Cultural Center had an early bedtime and a comfortable elastic waistband. It was a place where white liberal Ravi Shankar fans could gather to sip tea, discuss local politics, and crazily tap …

Tuesday, 29 April 2014

Bombay Bicycle Club just announced the release of their fourth album in five years, So Long, See You Tomorrow, coming out February 4, 2014 via Vagrant Records.
Of course, the band will be heading out on tour …

English indie four-piece means it when they say, “So Long, See You Tomorrow”.

London’s Bombay Bicycle Club is back on the road, in support of this latest and fourth album (on Island Records) with Manitoba’s Royal Canoe in tow, as tour support. The quartet started as more straight-ahead indie-folk, but on the last couple releases, has introduced more of a worldbeat sound to their oeuvre, with the latest album inspired by singer Jack Steadman’s travels in Holland, Turkey, and India.

With album singles, “Carry Me”, “Feel” and “Luna” already making waves in their native UK and Europe, the band hopes to replicate that success on this side of the pond.

Six-piece Canadian band Royal Canoe opens with their avant-pop hybrid of a spectrum of sounds. Their latest, last year’s Today We’re Believers (Roll Call/Nevado Records) was Juno nominated for Best Alternative Album and singles “Bathtubs” and “Birthday” already have surreal videos available, that defy description and just need to be seen.

Ingrid Michaelson is a singer-songwriter from New York (Staten Island to be exact, which is where I'm from and previously Brooklyn) and plays mainly around the NYC area. She currently has two albums and her songs…

Fresh from a radio in-studio session and ahead of her sold out weekend show at Minneapolis’ First Avenue, indie-pop singer-songwriter Ingrid Michaelson and band found themselves amongst rollercoasters and Spongebob Squarepants.

Lights Out

Cabin 24/Mom+Pop

Currently on tour promoting her sixth album, Lights Out (Cabin 24 Records/Mom+Pop), Michaelson converted the shopping throng of onlookers at the Mall of America with a half-hour set of infectious songs, both old and new.

Michaelson began her mini-set with a new song she’s opening her full shows with as well; ‘Home’ with its opening lyric, “Even in the harshest of winter I feel so warm, when the marks climb up the wall I still feel small, this is my home”, something Minnesotans could relate to after a long and brutal winter.

Joking about staring into Spongebob’s “googly eyes” as she sang and reminiscing about riding the rollercoasters while here a few years back, Michaelson moved forward with ‘Soldier’, from previous album, Everybody.

Hits followed for the rest of the short set, starting with ‘Be Okay’ and new single, ‘Girls Chase Boys’, which has made a splash with its homage-in-reverse tribute to Robert Palmer’s “Addicted to Love” music video. The song that first put her on the map, the clap-a-long friendly “The Way I Am” was next, a sweet short song that seemed to be swallowed a little by the cavernous Rotunda stage area.

The Rotunda

In terms of sound, it’s not close to musically ideal; there is echoing and bouncing everywhere, while the music and vocals compete with shopper conversations, people riding in the adjacent amusement park and noise hollowing up and down the massive five floors. But, the Rotunda does provide maximum visual exposure, as people were encamped in front of the stage as well as along the railings on all levels to watch.

Ingrid Michaelson

After a brief mashup of songs ‘Maybe and ‘Everybody’, Michaelson ended the set with new song and album closer, ‘Afterlife’, with lyrics that could speak as her credo: “We are going to live tonight, like there's no tomorrow, ‘cause we are the afterlife”, mentioning before starting that she’d probably never play this kind of space again, and remarking how it somehow reminded her of “The Matrix”.

With now six albums under her belt, adding playing the most famous mall in the country to her resume, and recently announced to return to town as a headliner for July’s Basilica Block Party, Michaelson can afford to keep dreaming big as the Megamall itself.

Monday, 28 April 2014

The pilot does an incredible job of setting the tone and style of the show. This was a police procedural crime drama with two parallel storylines: Detective Bosch on trial for the murder of an alleged serial …

I am a big horror fan, so I'm pretty excited to check out new horror television show. I'm looking forward to the Friday the 13th Television Series (not to be confused with the 80s program about hunting cursed objects). You can get all the details on deadline.com.

In the meantime, these two brand new horror television shows (Penny Dreadful and Salem) are looking good to me.

I've just seen the pilot episode for Penny Dreadful, due to air on May 11th, on Showtime (US) and Sky Atlantic (UK).

The pilot does show off some action, but overall, in typical pilots, only serves as an introduction to the various key characters and a direction on where the series is heading. While that doesn't sound that appealing, I am excited to see the rest of this series.

The main character is Ethan Chandler (played by Josh Hartnett) as a gunfighter. He's recruited by Vanessa Ives (Eva Green) and Sir Malcolm (Timothy Dalton) to fight some old Egyptian evil. While the characters are trying to solve the mystery with Victor Frankenstein's help, you do see all these hints of what is to come: from Jack the Ripper to obviously Frankenstein's Monster.

If this show is done right, it may appeal to fans of Alan Moore's League of Extraordinary Gentlemen or just plain horror fans in general. Again, this looks like a great show, looking forward to watching more.

WGN America just aired their second episode of Salem. The series is loosely based on the Salem Witch trials in the 17th century, and suggests that the witches were actually behind the trials.

Especially after the American Horror Story: Coven series on witches, I have to say that I'm on the whole (witch) board. There's a lot to like here: a period piece, showcasing a lot of women, and horror elements. Although, for the latter, it's more supernatural than what I would like (we're talking a lot of magic and frogs). I think they can downplay the supernatural demons stuff and keep it in the real world.

The story is about John Alden (Shane West), who went off to war and was a prisoner for a period of time. He returned to Salem to discover his love Mary Sibley (Janet Montgomery) is now married to another man. Unbeknownst to Alden, she actually became a witch in his absent.

So far, I'm fine with the show. It's still developing, but I have to confess, it is hard to rally with the witches (who are the baddies) as opposed to the witches on Coven. Instead, the hero Alden, does very little on his influence and action in Salem. Sure, it's still early days, but at the moment, the show is focused too much on the evil witches and you wonder why we would root for them or care if they live or die?

The good news is that I Break Horses will be back in Minneapolis this Saturday, April 26th, at The Triple Rock Social Club. The band will likely play tracks from their new second album Chiaroscuro, out now. …

Sweden's I Break Horses are currently touring the U.S. in support of their latest release Chiaroscuro. The dreampop band stopped by Minneapolis' Triple Rock Social Club last night, April 26th.

Forsthays

Starting off the show, sharply at 9pm, with "Catching Lightning", was local duo Forsthays. Although the band is in Minneapolis, they started off as a band in Berlin in 2012. Their music was assisted by a computer with programming and beats and Robar playing the bass, while Dominique, with his father's hat, sings and insists that you can trust a man in suspenders. Musically, they're influenced by Marvin Gaye and Billy Ocean, just to give you an idea of what they sound like.

Rival Consoles

With very little setup, Ryan Lee (otherwise performing as Rival Consoles) came on stage and basically played an hour set of EDM/dance/techno music. The scene was also in complete darkness with just a disco ball lighting the floor. After his set ended, he came back to the stage to remove his keyboard and laptop and was humbled by his newfound fans requesting an encore.

I Break Horses came on stage a little later than their original set time.
After hearing some Swedish chatter from the crowd, singer Maria Lindén was surprised, "It's crazy that there are Swedes in the audience!"

Setlist

As you can see from their setlist, they had wanted to play much longer, however, after "Berceuse" was played, they confessed that they could not get their synthesizer to work. The next song on their set ("Weigh True Words"), the synth was crucial to the song, so while the sound tech was trying to fix it, they had a few fans from the audience "tell jokes" on stage. Since they never got it to work, the band decided to just end their set with "Faith".

With the late running time, the sound problem, they decided to also end their show with just one song for encore, instead of the intended two.

Hopefully, I Break Horses got their equipment problem sorted out, as they still have some remaining U.S. tour dates left.
I Break Hores' latest album Chiaroscuro is out now on PIAS America/Bella Union.

I Break Horses at Triple Rock Social Club, Minneapolis (26 April 2014)

I saw The Sudden Lovelys a few years ago. I believe the husband/wife duo is from "Nordeast Minneapolis".
The duo is heading out on a Spring 2013 tour …

Lydia Loveless stopped by the 7th Street in Minneapolis last night, April 24th, as part of her tour in support of Somewhere Else, out now on Bloodshot Records.
Turnout to this 7th Street Entry show was incredibly good; if it didn't sell out, it sure felt like it.

Opening up the show were two locals, Tanbark (a folk duo consisting of Chloe Nelson and James Jannicelli) and The Sudden Lovelys (a duo consisting of Daniel and Paige Ferraro from 'Nordeast Minneapolis').

The Sudden Lovelys

Since we last saw The Sudden Lovelys in 2011, outside of Paige's massive glasses, the band's music and banter remained unchanged. Which is a good thing, because I do enjoy their boy/girl vocals and the weird shift in their music (they dubbed this as "aggressive folk").

Highlight of their set was a fan request for "Waxwing Birds", which, without protest, The Sudden Lovelys launched into the song.
Other highlight was a cover of John Prine's "In Spite Of Ourselves."

As for Lydia Loveless, just a little background on her, for those unfamiliar with her work. She previously played bass in a new wave band called Carson Drew (father of Nancy Drew). When the band broke up seven years ago, she went solo.
Her latest work, Somewhere Else, is her fourth studio album.

When Loveless took the stage to an eager crowded room, her sleeve got caught on the mic stand. Instead of pretending it didn't happen, she owned up to it and said it was her fault, "I was trying to be like all Stevie Nicks with my witchy outfit..." And speaking of the crowd, Loveless did make the comment that her audience was "about [her] age".

As for her music, it is like country and honky tonk, and listening to her songs, I can tell that they all are stories about her life (or someone she knows). If that sounds like your cup of tea, check out Lovless at a live show:

Temples got massive buzz from their semi-recent appearance at SXSW earlier this March. Now the band is making their way across the country in support of their debut album Sun Structures …

Along their way to Minneapolis, Temples have been building huge buzz appearing at Great Escape 2013 and (recently) SXSW 2014. With all that excitement for the band, they sold out the Turf Club presale tickets so they quickly upgraded to the main room at First Avenue.

Two Harbors

Opening up the show was local Two Harbors, unveiling tracks from their latest album The Natural Order of Things (out in May on Susstones Records). Singer Chris Pavlich is dressed accordingly, in 60-ish mod fashion, wearing his influence on his sleeve as they say.

As you can see from their setlist, with the exception of their 2011 single "You Pulled The Rug Out", all the tracks were taken from The Natural Order of Things.

If you missed them this time around, the band will likely play The Natural Order of Things on their upcoming show at the Cause Spirits and Soundbar on May 16th.

Drowners

The only thing I knew about Drowners coming into this show was that I thought they took their name from Suede's debut single, "The Drowners". As soon as they exploded on stage with "How the f*** are you Minneapolis?," I knew I would like them.

Drowners Setlist

Take a look at their setlist, which appears to be carved from their dinner (a pizza box) with unique artwork and stickers. You can just tell that the band does not take themselves too seriously and having a good time on the road.

The band seemingly are opposite of Temples, where they stretch out their songs, Drowners just quickly hit you with a one-two punch with their music.

The other thing to note is that although their singer, Matthew Hitt, is from Wales, they are actually from New York, currently signed to Frenchkiss Records.

Temples: James Edward Bagshaw

After Temples took the stage in complete darkness and completing their first song, "Colours to Life", singer James Edward Bagshaw seemed really pleased at the turnout, saying, "Still can't believe there's so many of you out there... So thank you!" He would later add during "Move With the Season" how he's still in disbelief, "Can't believe we sold more tickets here than in Liverpool. We should move here!"

Temples Setlist

Take one look at the Northamptonshire band's setlist, it didn't seem like they played that many tracks, however every one of their songs are extended live, adding ever changing soundscape, in typical psychedelic fashion.

Although I can see the late-Beatles comparison from critics and fans, it seems to me that their influence originally is from Eastern Indian music (which, incidentally, the Beatles was also heavily influenced on The Beatles (The White Album)), particularly with usages of the name temples/worship and the Elephant god Ganesha. Some of their guitar work, playing live, sounds as if they they were trying to reproduce the distinctive sitar sound.

After playing over an hour, they came back with their two biggest 'hit' songs, "Mesmerise" and "Shelter Song", on their encore, complete with extra long, extended, epic outros... leaving the audience wanting more and more. Unfortunately, the house music started playing and the lights came out, indicating that the show was over.

Temples are currently on tour in support of Sun Structures, out now on Fat Possum. Be sure to show up early to catch Drowners; although the two band's music do not match, I enjoyed them both.

My friend, Robin, told me that Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga was the "best album of the year". That was in 2007.
Of course, with a recommendation like that …

Minneapolis’ annual summer music festival Rock the Garden used to be a single Saturday in June, featuring four to five bands as well as tons of local food and drink vendors to satisfy hungry concertgoers. This year the Walker Arts Center-organized event will be stretching luxuriously over an entire weekend, June 21st and 22nd. Since 2008, 89.3 The Current has been sponsoring Rock the Garden and unveiling the line-up each year on air has become a highly anticipated thing for many music fans. It’s hard to be disappointed with the great and varied roster they’ve got planned for 2014...

Kicking off Rock the Garden Sunday afternoon will be Dan Auerbach-approved singer / songwriter Valerie June, who has been mesmerizing people with her vibrant, soulful brand of folk blues music since she was a teenager.

Pushin' Against A Stone

Sunday Best

The Tennessee-bred musician started out as half of duo Bella Sun, singing with her then-husband.
Her style evolved post-Bella Sun as something she has described as “organic moonshine roots music,” a groove-heavy combination of Appalachian folk, blues and gospel.
After playing around Memphis, recording with Old Crow Medicine Show and Meshell Ndegeocello and releasing three self-released records, June moved to Brooklyn. It was there that she was introduced to Black Key’s singer and guitarist, Auerbach, who produced her fourth record Pushin’ Against the Stone. Since then, June has been on the receiving end of some severe praise by everyone from Mojo to Rolling Stone. Recently, June rocked the Cedar Cultural Center in August AND December.

Transference

Merge Records

Headlining that evening will be none other than Spoon, the Austin, Texas quartet made up of singer/guitarist Britt Daniel, Jim Eno on drums, bassist Rob Pope and guitarist/keyboardist Eric Harvey. Spoon has long been hailed an indie-rock institution, releasing a string of excellent, critically acclaimed albums over the past decade starting with 2001’s Girls Can Tell and ending with 2010’s Transference.

Marrying the fuzzy beauty of the Pixies and the careful pop darkness of the Fall, Spoon create the kind of angular hooks that will make your head spin and your body move. Spoon has been on hiatus up until recently as Daniel has been making beautiful music with side project Divine Fits, featuring members of New Bomb Turks and Wolf Parade. Lately, the band has been teasing fans with pictures of the recording process on Instagram, so it seems like the band will be releasing their eighth studio album this year. Hopefully, they’ll debut a new song or two amidst the shower of rock gems they’re sure to unleash on fans that night.

Peelander-Z just announced their full nationwide tour for Metalander-Z. We previously saw them tour last year, and I noted that they didn't play that many songs from the album. I guess that was just the preview…

Way too many shows on this date. I would love to see Lisa Marie Presley at the Dakota (she's doing a residency, but I can't afford to see her) (UPDATE 4/29/14: Lisa Marie Presley canceled her entire tour due to health reasons.) or the Pains of Being Pure at Heart at the Triple Rock Social Club or Bombay Bicycle Club at the Varsity .... but the show I've already been assigned to is Peelander-Z at the 7th Street Entry. I've seen the band many, many, many times, but they are always fun and it never gets old.

Prolific, emotionally intense songwriter Mark Oliver Everett (or E to fans and the music world) has recorded a new Eels record called Wonderful, Glorious and is taking those songs on the road …

Today marks the release of the Eels’ album The Cautionary Tales of Mark Oliver Everett. This is the band’s 11th full length record in 18 years, since first hitting the alternative music scene with 1996’s Beautiful Freak.

A prolific and inventive musician, Everett has garnered a large following of fans and critics as well as fellow musicians with his simple, compassionate approach to songwriting. Everett’s songs are, indeed, spectacular to behold; lovingly-rendered audio gems that take the shape of gentle acoustic numbers and surprisingly wooly freak-outs. And in the tradition of great story songwriters, Everett has spent his career exploring his life and mining the human soul, uncovering pain and beauty and creating some of the most stunning tales in contemporary music.

The newest album sees Everett in a vulnerable state. As he recounts on the Eels website, the band started recording the album prior to the release of 2013’s Wonderful, Glorious. But the process proved to be too intense and so it was temporarily put on hold. Recently, the band reconvened to complete it. "I listened to what we had done, and it made me uncomfortable… but not uncomfortable enough," Everett says regarding early cuts of the album. "I decided to scrub over half of the songs and write new ones that would make me feel even more uneasy. If I'm not uncomfortable, it's not real enough. I needed to dig a little deeper."

Clearly, this conscious effort to give the songs a more uneasy feel was successful. Tales’ is very stripped down sounding, utilizing only a handful of carefully selected instruments to fill out each song. The focus is truly on Everett’s sleepy rasp as his deeply personal words. “When I was young, I had a dream/I would be held in high esteem/I thought I’d end up with gentlemen/distinguished, respected, refined,” Everett sings on “Gentlemen’s Choice” invoking the tormented barroom croak of Tom Waits.” The life that I’ve led is better unsaid/the world has no use for my kind.” He gets darker on “Dead Reckoning” muttering in resigned tones, “I can’t change you/I can’t change anyone,” while a bassoon echoes ominously in the background.

Ultimately, despite the bleak emotional corridors Everett takes us through, there are small, sacred glimmers of light throughout the record. Amidst chiming guitars on “Answers,” he reveals that “living lost is not the way to go from here on out.” On the album closer, the gorgeous piano and horn-driven “Where I’m Going,” he soulfully declares, “I’ve got a good feeling about where I’m going.” Turns out, Everett is an optimist, if a reluctant one.

Can one make peace with a past filled with careless mistakes in under 50 minutes? Everett can. In fact, Mark Oliver Everett can be confronted with any real world problem and work through it with a guitar and a glockenspiel. That’s what makes him such an inspiring and beloved songwriter; he’s honest about his struggles and that makes him so accessible. To me, Everett’s songs are like psychic life-rafts or a protective pendant you wear around your neck. He can string together a few glorious notes and everything is suddenly okay again.

Be sure to catch Eels on tour starting next month in Austin, TX. The band will be playing the Fitzgerald Theater in St. Paul on May 25th. And if you haven’t read it yet, pick up Everett’s heartbreaking and funny 2008 memoir Things The Grandchildren Should Know.